martha: that is it for us, bill hemmer. we'll be back here tomorrow with the big warm-up show for the big night. bill: did you miss us last week? martha: all the time. bill: you're back in time. martha: two days away. i'm glad to be back. bill: feel all right. now that we're good to go. martha: absolutely. they have a whole big show coming up. we'll see you back here tomorrow. bye, guys. jenna: different story indeed. we have brand new stories and breaking news. jon: the growing controversy over the white house response to the benghazi tear or attack. it is being compared to president bush's mission accomplished remark in the iraq war. we'll take a fair and balanced look. the next big outbreak. scary new details on the roll that animals might play into the spread of deadly diseases into the human population. plus leaping into the history books, the death defying dive from the edge of space. jenna: you're next, right?

jon: i'll try it. how fearlessthe sound barrier with the highest free fall ever. it is all "happening now.". jon: good morning morn to you. we're one day away from the smoke doe down between president obama and mitt romney. i'm jon scott. jenna: hi, everybody, i'm jenna lee. we're glad you're with us today. both men are hard at work on their final preparations and there is a lot riding on tomorrow east townhall debate. until the next debate when there will be a lot riding. jon: of course. jenna: every debate is a moment we're playing attention to. governor romney transformed the strong performance into something in the polls. he is hoping to keep that going. meantime the president is looking for a little momentum of his own. his campaign promising a more aggressive performance tomorrow night. we'll see how that plays out. john roberts live in new

york. off the road, finally, john. welcome back to new york city. how are things shaping up on the eve of the debate? >> reporter: considering i'm based in atlanta i'm not exactly home although i used to live here in new york. the way things are going as far as the romney campaign is in debate prep. the romney campaign not expecting the big blowout victory he was perceived to have get in the first debate. every time the president attacks he will bring it back to the issues. he will talk about his own policies of course but he does have a number of attack lines against the president. here's a few of them to watch for tomorrow night. he will be talking about the president's proposed big tax increase on wealthy americans would hit a lot of small businesses. $716 billion in cuts to medicare. in spending and the deficit. in wisconsin today, just a few minutes ago, vice-presidential running mate paul ryan dinged the president adding what he said was $5 trillion to the deficit and the debt over the past four years. >> not only do we have a

string of broken promises, not only do we have a string of a lack of leadership, this debt is not only hurting our economy today, it is guaranteeing that these young kids who are getting their halloween costumes, are going to go out and trick and treating have a diminished future. >> reporter: governor romney's plan at the debate to continue to highlight the stark differences jim lehrer pointed out between the two candidates at first debate, stark differences that the governor continues to highlight on the campaign trail, jenna. jenna: we saw that a little bit with paul ryan. what about the president? >> reporter: the president will be much more engaged the first time around, no question about it. you heard the word aggressive. that is a lot what we'll see but you have to be careful in a town hall forum how aggressive you get. there is lot of pressure for the president to make up for the first debate performance where he played rope-a-dope without ever getting off the ropes. the plan is truth squad a

number of mitt romney's campaign proposals including a 20% across the board tax cut. president obama saying that is $5 trillion tax cut for the wealthy. governor romney is definitely going against that notion. medicare premium support which the president and vice president say would eradicate medicare. health care plans, particularly, preexisting conditions that governor romney has talked . talking to ryan seacrest at america's top 40 on the radio the president said in the last debate he was far too polite he would be different, much different this time around. >> i do think on television what was clear is that i was being too restrained when mr. romney was telling his tall tales. but the truth is when you read the transcript everything i said was true and a lot of what he was not. >> reporter: campaigns are on polar opposites when it comes to issues. you will see a lot of that at the debate. but they do find common ground and they have concerns about what tomorrow night's moderator candy crowley said her role was

this she would get a chance to ask a lot of questions. that is not what the rules provide for from the commission on presidential debates. i don't see how you facilitate a good discussion without getting them off their talking points, jenna. we'll see how she does. jenna: a host of reasons to watch and tune in for that debate. john, thank you. >> reporter: thanks, jenna, it is going to be fascinating. we have brand new polling on the eve of the second presidential debate. an "abc news/washington post poll" of likely voters show president obama and governor romney remain locked in a dead-heat nationally. president getting 49% to governor romney's 46. real clear average of political polls puts it closer with the president and governor romney tied 47.3% each. let's talk to somebody from "real clear politics" now. erin mcpike is national political reporter for them. 47.3 in your latest average of all of the polls. it can't get any tighter than that. >> that's exactly what we'll

hear going into the debates tomorrow night. this race has never been closer than it is right now. which of course makes the debate tomorrow much more exciting. jon: the president said he will be much more aggressive. will that work in the town hall format? >> it may but i think what we're seeing from the polls the president's performance in the first debate didn't hurt him any. what it did was help mitt romney. mitt romney's favorability numbers have shot up after the last debate. that was the key thing the obama campaign was ewing against mitt romney, that mitt romney wasn't as likeable. >> the president's campaign spent tens of millions of dollars for traying mitt romney as out of touch rich vulture who was a really scary person and people didn't see that in the mitt romney on stage in denver. >> exactly. that is what the focus groups from many networks showed after the debate. this is a new mitt romney they didn't know before. his performance just really helped him with a lot of those voters. jon: the polling shows enthusiasm for the president

is not as high. voters are not as sold on him as they were four years ago. how is that going to affect what happens in 22 days or so? >> i think the bigger thing enthusiasm is up for mitt romney. in fact what some of our state polling shows, mitt romney is doing better in florida than president obama is doing in ohio. that is of course a big deal because florida has 29 electoral votes whereas ohio has 18. we might see some talk of the obama campaign scaling back a little bit in florida so they can concentrate on ohio and virginia. so actually things might look a little better for mitt romney in the electoral college than we've seen before. jon: let's go back to that 47.3% number we started off with. that is the national number, right? that is the polls across the country averaged out. it really comes down as we say time and time again to that bunch of swing states like new hampshire, ohio, iowa, florida. where does this race stand right now?

>> all about ohio and we've seen mitt romney and paul ryan in ohio just about every day for the past week and they will be going back next week. but, see a lot of battle back and forth in ohio and virginia. i think what we won't see them going to new hampshire and colorado as much. those are tight states but the romney campaign really needs to turn things around in ohio. he is getting closer but the president is still just slightly ahead in ohio. jon: interesting to me a lot of people say they are, they can't be swayed, their position is already cast in stone and yet when something like the denver debate happens all of a sudden a lot of people take a is second look at governor romney or perhaps president obama after the next debate. we'll see. >> there is small amount of undecided voters left. both sides will be firing up their base. we might see mitt romney tack a little toward the middle. as we saw vice-presidential debate, he went toward the

base. they want to see heavy turnout that is what they're concerned about. jon: if enthusiasm for the president's ticket isn't as high four years ago, that could be a problem. >> that is the problem and that's why he will focus on the base. jon:er inare mcmike from real politics. thank you. >> thank you. jon: jenna. jenna: another top story. new u.s. envoy in libya pledging american support following the attack more than a month ago. his criticism for the obama administration as well as the media handled this attack. chief washington correspondent james rosen live from washington with more. hi, james. >> reporter: gin that, with the presidential election less than a month away the news media, not congress will be primary source about new disclosures for the benghazi case. the schedule makes it unlikely we'll see any congressional hearings between now and election day. thursday's vice-presidential debate only deepened the

mystery around the obama's administration stance on the murder of chris stevens and three other americans. that the intelligence community fed the white house and national security council a deeply flawed assessment of what took place in benghazi on 9/11. >> either they're misleading the american people or incredibly incompetent. there was no way with anybody looking at all you could believe five days after the attack it was based on a riot that never occurred. there was no riot at all. to say that you're very incompetent or misleading. >> reporter: at a house hearing on wednesday assistant secretary of state charlene lamb who oversees dip lowtic security for the department's 275 installations across the globe testified she followed the benghazi attack in realtime on 9/11 and spoke directly with the agent on consulate ground who yelled, attack attack and decribed a assault bys dos of heavily

armed terrorist the ranking democrat accused republicans of politicizing tragedy. >> this conspiracy stuff is kind of ridiculous to be honest with you. i'm kind of surprised they have gone to these lengths but that is what think do. i think it is turning into a witch-hunt and we can do better, we really can. >> reporter: as though anyone required further reminders that libya remains a deeply unsettled place the country's national assembly has just elected a new prime minister yesterday after the last one suffered a no-confidence vote last week. jenna. jenna: james, thank you very much. former ambassador to yemen and iraq, david newden, joins us later with his take on the libyan attack. he has worked in diplomacy more than 30 years for both republican and democrat administrations. he will offer really interesting perspective what some belief is a many looking crisis in the middle east. that is coming up in about 10 minutes from now. jon: definitely something we'll want to see.

the scandal that everyone is talking about in the popular result, resort town of kennebunkport, maine, a assume ba instructor from running a prostitution ring inside her fitness studio. what could happen have some folks in the affluent community very nervous. plus millions watched it live. the supersonic skydive from 24 miles above earth. new details about what nearly went wrong when felix baumgartner did what no other human has ever done before. americans are always ready to work hard for a better future.

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[ male announcer ] it's time for medicare open enrollment. are you ready? time to compare plans and see what's new. you don't have to make changes, but it's good to look. maybe you can find better coverage, save money, or both. and check out the preventive benefits you get after the health care law. ♪ medicare open enrollment. now's the time. visit medicare.gov or call 1-800-medicare. ♪ jon: right now, a look at some crime stories we're watching. investigators suspend the search forred body after missing new hampshire student. 19-year-old lizzie marriott disappeared tuesday night a 29-year-old man has been

charged with her murder and is in court this morning. police believe her body was dumped near or in a river in portsmouth. a member of jerry lee lewis's band fatally shot in memphis. bb cunningham died in a shootout in a apartment complex where he worked as a security guard. 16-year-old boy was also killed. no word how the shooting unfolded yet. the maine supreme court could decide today whether prosecutors will be able to release the client list in an alleged prostitution ring. zumba instructor alexis wright accused of running the business out of her studio and a lot of men very nervous there. jenna: skydiving from the edge of space. take a look at this, millions watching felix baumgartner's death defying leap 24 miles above earth. he becomes the very first person to break the sound barrier. what a shot we have there. david lee miller in our new york city newsroom with more

of these details and, david lee, all eventually went well but there were a few tense moments in this dive, right? >> reporter: indeed they were, jenna. they call him fearless felix for a reason. that is really an understatement. consider this. as he was on his way up to the 24 mile mark, his face plate began to fog over because of the electrical system. he was going to peak make it as a blind leap. fortunately that was not necessary. there was a very frightening moment, seconds after he jumped he began to spin out of control. luckily as the atmosphere thickened he was able to stablize himself. for a moment you can see him spinning. later in a news conference he talked about his thoughts seconds before taking that 24 mile plunge into the record books. >> i know the whole world is watching now and i wish the world could see what i see and sometimes you have to go up really high to understand how small you are. >> reporter: baumgartner broke the speed barrier 65

years to the day that chuck yeager also traveled faster than sound. one notable difference here though, jenna, yeager did it in a jet. baumgartner did it in freefall. jenna: it is so crazy but so cool. david lee, what about the other records that were broken? >> reporter: one of the other things that is talked about that baumgartner now has the record for the highest manned balloon flight. so that's a new one on the record books. one record though that he did not break is the longest free fall. he fell for 4 minutes and 20 seconds. the previous record still stands at 4 minutes and 36 seconds. another related record here. this now appears to be the most viewed event ever transmitted live on the web. youtube reporting that it had more than 8 million, 8 million simultaneous streams. on twitter more than half the worldwide trending topics had something to do

with this jump. consider the fact this jump took place on a sunday when there were seven nfl games and most people were interested in fearless felix. jenna: some of the football players don't have a lot on felix. jon says he is game to try it, david lee. what a reporter: i think i will have to think twice. the fact that the free fall record still stands, that is something to at least consider. i will have to check with my life insurance carrier. i don't think this is covered. jenna: i think that is probably a good idea. david lee, really incredible story. thank you so much. jon: what a view from up there. it was a horrific story that captured national attention. an arizona mother accused of kidnapping in the disappearance of her own 8-month-old baby. now her trial is coming to a close and an update on that just ahead. plus new criticism of the white house handling of the deadly attack on our consulate in libya. one leading senator warning this could be just the beginning of a larger middle east crisis.

we'll talk with a former ambassador about all of this next.

jon: right now new developments in the baby gabriel case. you might remember the 8-month-old's disappearance captured the nation in 2009. now his mother's kidnapping trial is set to resume. patti ann browne has that from the breaking news desk. >> reporter: jon, earlier from the trial jurors heard the recording that elizabeth johnson admits killing the baby to get back at the boy's father in a custody suit. quote, the baby is in a dumpster, that is the price. the you did not hurt dpab breel. i covered him up in with a towel and suffocated him and turned blue and put him in a trashcan.

gabe biel's body was not found. she is charged with kidnapping custodial interphones and conspiracy and lawyers are moving for dismissal on those charges because of technicalities. kidnapping charge requires the state to prove that joms son was worried about imminent fiscal danger to gabe real. johnson said she already killed him which the lawyer notes is not an imminent injury. rulings on that motion and a few others a due out later today. the trial resumes tomorrow with closing arguments. elizabeth johnson did not testify in her own defense. if she is convicted of only custodial interference she would walk out of jail only on parole, jon. jon: what a unbelievable story. patti ann browne. thanks. >> the middle east is falling apart. they're trying to spin what happened in libya, the truth of the matter al qaeda is alive and well and counter attacking n iraq there is doubling of al qaeda

operatives in iraq since we left, 2500. iran is flying over iraqi airspace to deliver weapons to syria. syria is becoming 30,000 people dead and foreign fighters moving into syria. the iranians have quadruple ed the amount of enriched-uranium they have to build bombs as the obama administration talks to them. this whole region is about to explode. jenna: that was south carolina republican senator lindsey graham over the weekend, highlighting what he sees as a looming crisis in the middle east. the senator also comparing the president's current response to the attack on our consulate in libya with president george w. bush's handling of the war in iraq. joining me now for his take on everything that is happening in the middle east including libya is ambassador david newden. he served as our ambassador both in yemen and iraq and in both republican and democratic administrations. he is now a scholar at the middle east institute. ambassador, nice to have you with us today. >> pleasure. jenna: like to go back to senator graham's first comment about the region about to explode in

reference to the middle east. how would you characterize what is happening in that part of the world? >> well since the beginning of the arab spring we're in a period of tremendous turbulence and change in the middle east. much like we had in the '60s and '70s. it could easily go on for an entire decade. and this is not determined from people outside the region. these are revolutions from the inside. the united states has limited influence in this situation. it is going to have to react, try to plan as best as it can but we have to be prepared for a lot of surprises and a lot of problems. jenna: why do you say that we have to be prepared to react rather than potentially having a more proactive approach to the changes that are happening in the region? >> well, we will have proactive approaches but there will be a lot of surprises. there are a lot of unknowns and there could be violence but this is a basically still, we hope, a democratic

movement and the people of the region will determine what happens. and the level of prediction is going to be pretty low. jenna: so you're still hopeful that there is a democratic undercurrent to some of the changes that we're seeing in the middle east. others of course are doubtful of that. and one of the things that senator graham brought up is his comparison to the bush administration for the very reason that he feels that there's a difference in the narrative that we're hearing from the obama administration and the reality that is actually happening on the ground. how, and that is similar to what he says what we saw from the bush administration with the mission accomplished sign and not getting realities what was happening on the ground in iraq. how do you feel about that comparison? do you feel there is a difference in narrative on what we would hope or like to see there in the region versus the reality of what is actually happening? >> well in the case of the bush administration we created the situation by determining that we would go to war against saddam hussein. this was not a event caused

by events in the region itself. in this case we're dealing with events in the region which we can not easily predict. we know they're dangerous but they're going to be a lot of surprises. jenna: ambassador, your time you spent more than 20 years living in the middle east. as we mentioned an ambassador in yemen and iraq. was your security ever threatened or security of the embassy or consulate you were at at any point in your career ever under attack? >> well at various times. as a junior officer also in yemen we had people coming over the wall against vulnerable building. fortunately security forces beat them back. and in the end of my career in yemen i had a very serious security threat and ended up with two american bodyguards. but at one point i think important to make is in the final analysis we are always dependent on the local security forces, the local government, to protect us,

even in very dangerous posts where you might have an american bodyguard, you're not going to be able to be safe in the final analysis unless the host government is able to protect you. jenna: just and on that point then, what do you make of the repeated requests that we heard in the hearing last week on capitol hill, the repeated requests by the regional security from the state department, security official, asking for more security and he says not getting it? what do you make of that exchange and what should we know about that? >> i don't find that terribly surprising. after all, resources are finite. "new york times" this morning reported that congressman issa himself voted to cut the number of diplomatic security personnel in the past. you have to make choices with what you have and, in diplomatic security, i think there are always more threats and requests than you can handle. sometimes you make a good decision.

sometimes it turns out to be a bad decision. i know of one case in which the department sent an ambassador off and he was killed. those things happen. it's a dangerous profession. we're not armed. even with a bodyguard. jenna: do you think you should be? do you think you should be? >> no, absolutely not. there is no way you can defend yourself and we're not there. we're supposed to be promoting peace, not war. jenna: ambassador, nice to have your perspective today. thank you so much for your time. >> sure, a pleasure. jon: five accused terrorists go to court today including the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. we are live from guantanamo bay with an update for you. plus president obama and governor romney gearing up for tomorrow's debate. the first round focused on the economy. left a lot of voters though unsatisfied wit with the lack of details on how we'll control this deficit. so, why all of the silence? the republican national committee communications

director weighs in with his thoughts on that next. [ male announcer ] eligible for medicare?

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expenses that could really add up. these kinds of plans could save you up to thousands in out-of-pocket costs... you'll be able choose any doctor who accepts medicare patients. and you never need referrals. so don't wait. with all the good years ahead, look for the experience and commitment to go the distance with you. call now to request your free decision guide. this easy-to-understand guide will answer some of your questions, and help you find the aarp medicare supplement plan that's right for you. jon: fox news business alert now on the security of our international energy sources and a new report out offers some stunning findings indicating that america's domestic energy security is not much better than it was at the height of the iran hostage crisis more than 30 years ago. rich edson with the fox business network is live in washington. so where does the u.s. rank in all of this, rich?

>> reporter: well, jon, this is an index based on the amount of energy a country uses and its access to that energy a just released u.s. chamber of commerce report says mexico tops that international list, followed by the british, norway, new zealand, denmark, australia, and then the united states. behind us, canada, germany, and others including russia and china the united states is the second largest energy consumer in the world though, in 2010 produced more oil, quote and natural gas than any other country minus saudi arabia. there are other energy challenges impossible to forecast like natural disasters, wars and refinery outages that could dramatically restrict the country's access to energy it needs. the report says the united states is heading in the right direction modestly. the primary reason for optimism? natural gas. jon: so, all right. sorry, rich edson. we'll have to say good-bye.

rich, thank you. >> reporter: sure. jenna: right now a pretrial hearings underway for five men charged in the september 11th attack. both sides arguing whether constitutional protections extend to the suspectsing including khalid shaikh mohammed the self-processed mastermind of the attacks. cat thin herridge is streaming live from the guantanamo bay with more catherine? >> reporter: a year from now when the actual trial takes place they're arguing whether these guys have to show up. when they show up whether the trial can proceed without them. one moment came from the 9/11 families. we sit in the maximum security court about 30 feet from khalid sheikh mohammed from him and his four coconspirators. usually there is a curtain drawn separating the reporters from the 9/11 families but today the curtain was not draun so we could see their response to the suspects.

parents of andrea haberman was on her first business trip and killed on 92ed in floor of car futures in the north tower. her mother cat think wanted to get in the courtroom and walk along the defense table and look in eyes of 9/11 suspects to see if anything there they had a soul. she said simply they could not be human given what they did to nearly 3,000 americans. also in court were the 5'9" 11 suspects. khalid sheikh mohammed self-described architect of the attack. was noticeable a real change. they got antics out of their system back in the arraignment in may. they were much more subdued. they were much more engaged in the legal process. three of them were leaving through these very thick legal binders that contain all of the motions. also in court today was the controversial lawyer who represents one of the 9/11 suspects, cheryl borman. before the hearing today she explains why she will be insists being fully covered for her client in court.

>> i will be covering myself in modest dress. modest dress in his culture means something that does not show the female form. and does not show hair. >> reporter: the most important issue to watch really over the next week is how they're going to handle classified information. the defense attorneys want to get in everything that has to do with the men's years at the cia secret prisons where they were subjected to enhanced interrogation and khalid sheikh mohammed was waterboarded. the prosecution is making the case that all of that stuff should stay out because they say it will compromise sources and methods as well as u.s. national security, jenna. jenna: we'll certainly continue to watch this story, catherine. thank you. jon: round two in the presidential debate just a day away now. while the economy topped the agenda in the first faceoff, there seems to be very few specifics offered on how to control the skyrocketing deficit. joining us now to talk about that, sean spicer, communications director for

the republican national committee. just a quick note. we normally bring in the democratic national committee communications director as well. he could not join us today. so what about it, sean. neither side seems to have provide ad whole lot of information on how we're going to get this deficit taken care of. should that be a major topic at this upcoming debate? >> well, very well may be but i think beyond the debate forum, because let's face it, you're talking about 30 seconds, 60 second answers you have to look beyond the debate forum, what those candidates, both sides put out there. on one hand president obama talked about in 2008 he would put a plan in place to cut the deficit in half. instead we've had four years of trillion dollar plus deficits and a national debt at $16 trillion. on the flipside governor romney laid out some of his proposals to get, to cut the deficit. paul ryan, actually passed a budget that puts us on a path to budget, excuse me, a path to balance. i think while the debate,

you're never going to have, in 60 seconds talk about an entire plan to get you to balance, i think you have to look beyond the debate forum and see what they put out there. on the case of romney and ryan they clearly have a plan and a path to cut the deficit and get us towards balance. jon: as you know, president obama blames the republican congress, republican-led house i should say, says that they are the much of the reason for, you know the dysfunction in washington? >> well, the problem with the president's argument is that for the first two years he had a supermajority of democrats in both the house and the senate. and so he could have done anything he wanted, anything, with respect to either jobs, or cutting the deficit or anything else and frankly the focus was on obamacare and everything but those two things. it went the opposite way. we actually shed jobs and we increased the deficit and the debt. so for the president then to turn around say well the republican house was obstructionist. one they controlled the senate that hasn't passed a

budget in three years. republicans came back into largely because the president hadn't kept those promises with respect to jobs and the deficit. you saw a reaction because he wasn't doing that that the republicans came in and they're the ones, who have been sort of fighting for fiscal discipline and to get the deficit back under control. jon: devil's advocate, because i can practically hear your colleague from the dnc saying this, 800,000 job as month were being lost at the time that the obama administration took office. >> what you have to judge is, what the president said he was going to many could accomplish. so, there is no question that he inherited, you know, the circumstances that he did. but as a candidate he made it very clear that he understood the economic situation that we faced and that he had the proper policies to be able to put in place and solve that. we're now applauding 7.8% after 41 months of, plus 8% unemployment. the deficit as i mentioned,

hasn't, not that it has been cut at all. it has gone the exact opposite way. for the first time ever we have 4 trillion dollar budgets with deficits and 16 trillion dollars in debt there has been no progress on that. the other one after four years we're barely seeing a glimmer of light. that is not exactly what we were problem missed. that is the standard you have to hold him too is his own. the promises that he made and said okay, where are you with relation to what you promised us? jon: you've seen the poll numbers. governor romney seems to be tied nationally with the president. is that a trend you think will continue? >> i think more and more people are starting to turn into the election right now and what they saw in that first debate was for the first time ever the two candidates really giving america a clear choice as to the direction of this country after november. and, so, i think that, that that sort of momentum, intensity and enthusiasm for governor romney is going to continue for the last three

weeks of this campaign because the choice that they're seeing, versus, a government move run economy, versus a free enterprise-run economy, plan to cut the deficit, very as you a plan to continue to grow it is one they find appealing in governor romney and recognize he has the background of turning things around, making better things and coming in a tough situations and finding the right solution. i think you will continue to see more of that choice over the last three weeks and people will start to go in his direction. jon: 22 days and we'll know the answer. sean spicer from the republicannings in committee. thank you. >> thanks, jon. jenna: meantime new concerns that iran could be launching a wave of cyber attacks against american targets. this as defense secretary leon panetta warns of a growing cyber threat the scale of pearl harbor attacks. we'll speak with a cybersecurity expert about all of this next @

jenna: today iran is denying it but there are new concerns iran is behind a growing wave of cyber attacks against us.

u.s. officials sigh they have traced recent sophisticated attacks against energy companies in the middle east, to hackers supported by the iranian government. this comes days after a dire warning from defense secretary leon panetta saying we're increasingly vulnerable to a massive cyber assault on the scale of pearl harbor. joining me now to break this all down, morgan wright, a cybersecurity analyst. morgan, what is being done to keep us safe. >> jenna we talked about this so many times i feel it is groundhog day. i'm waiting for bill murray to pop up. this is country that helps build ieds. this country helps produce explosively formed penetratetores to hurt our troops on the ground will absolutely use cyber attacks against us. jenna: we keep saying we have to be prepared. how do we do that? >> it is basics, blocking and tackling to use a football analogy. companies making sure they are secured against the most obvious vulnerabilitis. people having personal discipline, employees,

defense community, intelligence community and even sensitive installations make sure you don't open up e-mails with attachments you're not aware of. installing proper anti-virus, strong encryption. there are a lot of basics out there, but unfortunately familiarity breeds contempt, people become complacent with their habits. jenna: secretary panetta paints a interesting picture. some of the cyber attacks could derail passenger trains. >> absolutely. jenna: contaminate water supplies. disrupt the power grid in large parts of the country. there was a few months ago a cybersecurity act floated through congress. it was a new law that would encourage private companies and the government to share data and it was defeated. i'm just curious, based on your expertise, morgan, do we need new legislation, new laws or need something else entirely to face this threat? >> well, i'll tell you it is a huge policy issue. intimidating art.

on a episode of 24, terrorists used a device to take down a plane. the at what point do we do physical response to a cyberattack? the laws have been around since presidential directive 693 where bill clinton signed into-offs where companies share their information. i think it is better companies get together to share their information such as different sharing information analysis centers and finance and energy then put more laws on top of people. this government has a tough time keeping a secret. if i as a company disclose my most sensitive data, how i secure my information and intellectual property there is high probability that it will get out. that is what worry as lot of these companies. not the merely securing and defending their own infrastructure. that is what they want to do. they don't want to lose customers. they don't want to go down. their concerns is operating with the government. jenna: concerns about regulation is one of the reasons why this bill was defeated. even though it feels like groundhog day we hope you come back because it is a important story. thank you. >> thank you, jenna, a

scarely look into the future a new book outlines the growing number of diseases spread from animals to humans. we've already seen some tremendous scares. could there be worse outbreaks on the way? the future of infectious diseases next. [ male announcer ] there are only so many foods that make kids happy. and even fewer that make moms happy too. with wholesome noodles and bite sized chicken, nothing brings you together like chicken noodle soup from campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

jon: last week jenna spoke to expert how you can pass human illnesses to your pet but there are also a number of diseases people can catch from animals or insects. things likes west nile virus or certain kinds of flu. a new book entitled "spillover" animal infections and the next pandemic, it has frightening details like sars, hiv and ebola are transmitted to humans from animals and the

next outbreak could be the worst yet. the author joins us this morning. david you've been looking at this issue for a number of years. things like hiv, ebowl last, they actually started in the animal community? >> that's right, jon, yeah. aids, sars, ebola, west nile, fever, hunt at that virus, all of the influenzas, they ultimately come from wildlife and spillover from animal species get into humans and in some cases turn into human pandemics. jon: the sars virus you say is one we were lucky it wasn't worse than it was? >> the sars was a scary one, yes. it was a virus that belongs to a certain group, the corona viruses and the people, the experts at the cdc and elsewhere that i have talked to say, you know, ebola, marberg, yeah, if you want a really scary one it was sars. it passed from human-to-human very readily. it was very lethal.

it could have been a whole lot worse if they hadn't manage to stop it. jon: well, how did they manage to stop it? >> well very good disease science, diagnostics quickly, identifying what kind of virus this was. they figured out what animal species it had come from. though contained it. they instituted very good measures to affirm public health, isolation of patients, protection of medical workers and stopped it in toronto. stopped it in sipping pour. stopped it in beijing and stopped it in hong kong and prevented it from going a whole lot bigger than it did. jon: some of the photos on the cover of your book are pretty frightening. primates and fangs. are we talking about somebody this jungles of africa, for instance, getting bitten and carrying some kind of plague agent on to an airplane? >> well that's one possibility but oddly more often involves us biting them. for instance, in central

africa, the harvest of wildlife for bush meat what led to spillover of some of these diseases. that is probably what carried ebola from a chimpanzee into a village of people. in one case that is very well-documented. and of course, the aides pandemic began, we now know began with a spillover of a virus from a single chimpanzee to a single human of south eastern corner of cameroon, back as early as 1908 give or take a margin of error. jon: look where we are now. wow! it is a really sobering book. interesting reading. david qaman is the author. "spillover" is the book. thanks for sharing that frightening perspective with us. >> pleasure to be with you, jon. jenna: president obama and governor romney making final preparations for tomorrow night's debate, cramming if you will, the next 24 hours. what can we expect in round two? we'll have a preview next.

jenna: it's likely to come up again tomorrow night. we'll see what the real people that are asking real questions want to focus on. leading republicans suggest the administration deliberately misled the american people by claiming the incident was a spontaneous demonstration sparked by a video. chief white house correspondent ed henry is live in williamsburg, virginia. the president is busy, he's getting ready, staying at a golf resort inside doing all the studying he needs to do.

his folks were on the sunday shows and they were continuing to talk about the benghazi attack or be asked about the attack. give us an idea of where we're at with that right now? >> what is interesting, you're right, tomorrow night we'll get an interesting look at all of this. because this is not just domestic policy like the first debate in denver, this time it will be domestic and foreign policy. we'll see whether some of these real voters do want answers from the president on the situation in libya, number one, number two, some of his key advisers were on those sunday talk shows getting tough questions from chris wallace and others about the differing explanations we've heard about the situation in benghazi, what led to it. remember vice president biden added more fuel to the fire in that vp debate last thursday night when he said we were not informed about the security situation, the requests for more security in libya. the white house clarifying that he meant he and the president, not other officials at the state department and elsewhere. this is leading republicans like lindsey graham to suggest maybe there is a cover up here, while

david axelrod says everyone needs to calm down. take a listen. >> either they are misleading the american people or are incredibly incompetent. there is no way with anybody looking at all that you can believe five days after the attack it was based on a riot that never occurred. there were no riot at all. to say that you're either very incompetent or misleading. >> we want to get to the bottom of it. the first order of business is to bring to justice those who committed this heinous act, and secondly find out what went wrong and what adjustments need to be made to further secure our diplomats around the world. >> reporter: important to remember as well the third and final presidential debate will be next monday in florida, and that is completely foreign policy, national security. we've already seen the topics for that, the middle east is a big part of it. so libya, iran, some of these pot spots very likely to come up even if it doesn't come up tomorrow night, next monday. jenna: the last presidential debate you were also traveling

with the president. you were in nevada at the time as he was preparing with his team. this is the last full day he has, now, and so does mitt romney to prepare again for the debate. any sort of different feeling you're getting from team obama? how is it going? >> reporter: yes, they are saying that the president is prepared to be more aggressive, more passionate than he was in the first one. they are suggesting that he has been trying to bone up to figure out what went wrong in the first debate. but there is a fine balance here. when you talk to senior advisers in private they admit, the first time around you had a moderator with two candidates at podiums. this time a town hall format, candy crowley asking questions. it could blow up in your case. both the obama and romney counts have written to the presidential debate commission saying the rules that were spelled out suggest the moderator cannot ask follow-up questions even though the moderator from cnn says publicly she plans to add

follow-ups. why did they do that, is that because they don't want the governor to be pressed on specifics about his tax plan, and the president not want to be pressed for specifics on the situation in libya? that will be a very interesting element in that debate. jenna: it's hard not to ask that follow-up, we need to get that one question in. we'll see what actually happens tomorrow. ed thank you. jon: the second presidential debate a day away now. a town hall meeting at hofstra university on new york's long island. ordinary folks are supposed to be asking the questions of the candidates, but as you just heard both campaigns say they are concerned that the moderator, candy crowley may be getting a little bit too many questions in. the president is putting in some final prep time before tomorrow night's big showdown at a golf resort in virginia. governor romney practicing as well. so what should we expect in bret baier is the anchor of special report and joins us now.

bret, what are you hearing from the two campaigns about how they are getting ready? >> reporter: hey, jon, coming to you today from portsmouth, new hampshire as a firetruck goes by here downtown, beautiful port smith, we'll talk about that in a second. talking to the campaigns, you're hearing the expectation that president obama is going to be more aggressive, that he's going to be more energetic. there is a difficulty a little bit in this format, as you mention it's a town hall so the aggressiveness might be tough to manifest itself if you're dealing with, as you mentioned, questions from these folks in the room. they are technically uncommitted voters. they've gone through this gallop process where they are either undecided, or they have a preference of who they are going to vote for, but they could change their mind, according to gallop. so that's from the obama side. the other side, governor romney, according to his people is

looking to capitalize on the first debate and clearly, according to the polls everywhere across the country, including here in new hampshire that debate performance definitely moved the needle. jon: governor romney is definitely on a roll after his debate performance in denver. as you mentioned there is a lot of pressure on the president to do better. are his aides expressing concern about what happens if he does get too tough or too aggressive? >> reporter: yeah they say he's going to be aggressive but stick to the -- who he is. and aggressive has, you know, a different terminology in different places. vice president biden was aggressive through that debate. on the left that was seen as a great thing. it was seen that vice president biden was energetic in defending democratic principles. on the right it was seen that he was overly interrupting and

aggressive and interrupting paul ryan when he was trying to make an answer during that debate. i'll tell you this. again, the format of the town hall, it's going to be interesting the dynamic, how when these questions are coming from people, how you can go after the other candidate. we've seen it before in these town halls, but how that develops is going to be interesting to watch. jon: it is going to be fascinating. we're going to be watching it right along with you of course, bret thanks very much. >> reporter: tonight -- jon: go ahead, bret. >> reporter: tonight special report here in new hampshire, some interesting stuff from folks in new hampshire that it's a very tight race. this state is really clamping down, it's probably one point right now. jon: four election controlleee electoral votes up for grabs and both side want them. megyn kelly will be heading up

our coverage with full analysis. it starts tomorrow night 8:55 eastern time. jenna: serious questions about our strategy in syria as we learn of new concerns about where the weapons being shipped to rebel groups are really going. american and middle eastern diplomats claim the arms are going to hard line islamist jihaddist instead of the opposition groups fighting to overthrow bashar al-assad. potentially those groups would be more pro west or pro american. that is one of the questions being raised in syria today. jennifer given is live at the pentagon with more. first, what are we doing, jennifer, as far as shipping weapons to the syrian opposition? >> reporter: well, technically, jenna, the cia has had some small teams in turkey trying to sort through the different rebel opposition groups and try to help funnel weapons from the k

kataris. and the saudis. they've been given humanitarian aid. i spoke to one senior u.s. official this morning in terms of what was happening with aid to the rebels. they said it's not exactly easy to determine where all of this lethal material goes which explains in part why the united states is treading carefully. some lethal aid probably does fall into the wrong hands. and in syria this day wrong hands could be the right hands the next. that is unfortunate but the nature of this dynamic conflict. it's interesting to note, jenna that israel has not been pushing publicly or privately for the pentagon to provide weapons to the opposition there. israelis know those weapons could one day be turned on them. jenna: that is an interesting point. the dynamic is complicated. what did the candidates say about aiding the syrian rebels since we are 22 days away from an election here?

>> reporter: president obama has taken criticism from republicans for not getting involved more, and not doing more to stop the regime of bashar al-assad from attacking his own people and not providing weapons. candidate romney had this to say last week. >> in syria i'll work with our partners to identify and organize those members of the opposition who share our values, and then insure that they obtain the arms they need to defeat bashar al-assad's tanks and helicopters and fighter jets. >> reporter: now it turns out those weapons, which were provided by the qutaris and saudis ended up in the hands of radical factions. there are hundreds of armed syrian factions. it is not simply one mon money monolithic opposition to bashar al-assad. jenna: thank you. jon: a food recall hits starbucks. do you believe that? we'll tell you which product to

look out for, that is coming up. jenna: the meningitis outbreak we've been talking so much about continues to grow as seven more people are diagnosed with the deadly illness. the latest on the outbreak. jon: also the pakistani school girl shot by the taliban for supporting education for girls has just landed for treatment in the united kingdom. a live report from london coming up. people have doubts about taking aspirin for pain. but they haven't experienced extra strength bayer advanced aspirin. in fact, in a recent survey, 95% of people who tried it agreed that it relieved their headache fast. visit fastreliefchallenge.com today for a special trial offer.

jon: right now, seven more people diagnosed with fungal meningitis linked to steroid shots for back pain. the centers for disease control says 205 people in 14 states have been affected. 15 of those people have died. the outbreak has turned into a major health scandal after a massachusetts company shipped vials that may have been contaminated to 23 states, and dozens of medical facilities. jenna: now to that peanut butter recall hitting starbucks now, the coffee giant recalling his protein bistro box because of

possible salmonella contamination. they have enjoy by dates of august 10th to october 6th. they also have that peanut butter squeeze pack with best buy date buy dates. jon: the 14-year-old pakistani girl shot by the taliban because she supports education for girls has just arrived in the united kingdom for treatment. amy kellogg has brand-new information for us. >> reporter: the taliban has said they will kill or go after this girl again if she recovers. yes, she has just arrived here in the united kingdom. she is going to be treated at a specialist hospital in birmingham. she is just minutes away from that hospital. we saw her plane touchdown. we heard from the medical director of the queen elizabeth hospital who really can't say

very much, jon, because he says privacy has to be respected here. what we did get from that little press conference is that she is deemed to be well enough to travel, in other words, though she still has not regained consciousness they would not have moved her if they did not think that there was a chance of recovery. this is the little girl who had been blogging since the age of 11 primary or bbc talking about life in the swat valley of pakistan under the taliban. even though they were driven out of swat in 2009 they continued to hunt her down and threaten her. they had a meeting at which they decided as a group that it was okay to kill this little girl. they hunted her down, boarded her school bus as she was returning from school last week, shot her at point-blank range after asking the other girls on the bus who she was. it's important to point out that two of her friends were also shot, one remains in critical condition. the bullet traveled through this girl's head and into her neck.

the fragments have been removed but now her skull needs to be reconstructed. the savage attack may have become a turning point in pakistan, in other words, pakistanis have said that something good may come of this tragedy as people have really started speaking out, loudly and boldly against the barbarian taliban. there have been rallies around pakistan, this one was in karachi yesterday. part of the reason she has come to britain, of course, is that the treatment is deemed to be more sophisticated here, and what she really need, but its not just the short term treatment, jon it is the long term rehabilitation that this hospital is so good at. they treat all of the war wounded from afghanistan, iraq, around the world, so they have some very highly skilled and practiced specialists here. we will update her as to her condition when we get more information. it is going to obviously be a very long road, weeks they were telling us today if not months.

jon: we have live pictures on the screen next to you, amy of the ambulance that has just arrived bringing her into that hospital, unbelievable the savage reto which she has been subjected. we will certainly keep our viewers updated on her condition. amy kellogg, thank you. jenna: well we're seeing a major shift in a key battle ground state. what the latest polls are saying about florida. the way voters are learning now and how the new numbers may change the presidential race. plus, why both campaigns are voicing concerns about cnn's candy crowley and her plans for moderating tomorrow night's town hall debate. that is all ahead. i've been a superintendent for 30 some years at many

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jenna: we are your election headquarters and we are taking a close look at the battleground states that could hold a key to the white house. today we'll take a look at florida. folks in the sunshine state have voted for the winner in seven of the last eight presidential elections. let's take a look at some of the dynamics at play in the state of florida. the unemployment rate slightly above what we are now nationally, under 8%. obviously a big story in florida is the housing market. one of the top housing market industries where we've seen foreclosures. i want to show you a history of visits from the two candidates. you see mitt romney slightly ahead of the president, both spending quite a bit of time in the state of florida since the month of april. a few statistics we want to show you here. electoral votes, 29 votes. it's a big state. as bret baier mentioned in new hampshire there are four

electoral votes and new hampshire could decide the election. it's all relative. here is a look at where we are in the polls according to "real clear politics" the average. you see mitt romney out pacing the president in florida now according to the latest data that we have. steve boscay is a bureau chief for the "tampa bay times." steve, what do you make of the numbers you're seeing now? >> there is no question that it's tighter. there is no question that the first debate performance by the president was a big problem. there is a reason why florida is seen as a microcosm of the nation and it is, it's because people here are from everywhere else. unlike a place like you mentioned new hampshire is a good example, a good point of comparison, people have lived in new hampshire for generations, they take cues on voting from relatives, from coworkers from people at church. people in florida are much more untethered to the political system, they are much more influenced by what they see on tell advice, both news content and commercials and we are seeing that here.

it's important that in tomorrow's debate, in the tuesday night debate that president obama, who had such a problem last time needs to steer the conversation to florida specific to topics i'll name two. everyone is concerned about jobs everywhere. two issues that resonate here particularly are medicare and immigration. we didn't hear much of either of those in the first debate. jenna: it's interesting you point out the two issues as well. obviously they are geared towards certain voting blocks. when we take a look at the numbers it's not just the numbers we are looking at but who may be shifting their alliancess. steve, who looks to be, or is there a particular voting block, whether it's latino votes, whether it's seniors, that seems to be moving more towards mitt romney in the state of florida? >> well the most recent poll that was out last week by the "tampa bay times," miami herald and bay news 9 had hispanic voters shifting. those would be noncuban his high school. i can explain in a second. rehave a large population of

noncuban hispanics in florida who are more independent, who tend to lean more democratic. a lot of them are in the i4 cord der around suburban orlando. they are shifting our polls showed toward mitt romney. the obama people said to our poll that we didn't believe it and they thought that president obama will get and needs to get about 60%, about three of every his five hispanic votes in florida need to goat president's way. they are a big, big part of the election threat in the sunshine state. jenna: the "associated press" had a piece out today about how florida is the top of the top when it comes to ad spending and all those commercials all the time. steve, has it reached the point or maybe weeks ago it reached the point where the ads are no longer a fact factor because of the saturation at this point? >> i would say yes. we are not only at the saturation factor but florida is now joining the parade of states where people have been voting, jenna down here for the last two weeks. supervisors of election began

mailing absentee ballots to people october 2nd. not only are people kind of tired of seeing all the ads they are seeing in state and local races. people are making their judgments as we are speaking at this very second there are votes going into election supervisors every day in this state. jenna: that is a good point as well. steve, it's always so nice to have you on. thank you so much for the great context today. >> thank you. jon: 22 days to go until the nation decides on the next occupant at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. but before that happens both president obama and governor romney are hung errin hunkering down today getting in prep time for tomorrow's big debate. a live report next. plus the deadly attack on our consulate in libya turning into a hot topic on the campaign trail. is that fair? the latest fallout just ahead. [ male announcer ] are you considering a new medicare plan?

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unitedhealthcare has been helping people live healthier lives. remember, open enrollment ends friday, december 7th. we can help. call unitedhealthcare to learn about medicare plans that may be right for you. call now. ♪ jon: president obama and governor romney staying under the radar you might say as both do intense final preparation for tomorrow's second debate. the president looking to raise his game after a lack luster performance in denver. governor romney wants to build on his momentum coming out of that first debate. doug mcelway live in washington with a preview. >> reporter: good afternoon. the thinking is the president really needs to make a stronger case for his second term after what is regarded as a poor performance during the first presidential debate. with numerous polls showing the race is a dead heat and the momentum shifting to the

romney-ryan ticket the president needs to make a strong showing tomorrow night but that is harder to do in a town hall format, where undecided voters picked the gallop organization ask the questions. if it is too aggressive it can be off putting to the questioners and viewers. david objection he elro axelrod will be aggressive in making the case for where the country should go. >> we saw governor romney sort of walk away from his own proposals, and certainly the president is going to be willing to challenge him on it, as we saw the vice president challenge paul ryan. >> reporter: but that is going to work both ways. look for governor romney to challenge the president on the administration's shifting response to the benghazi terrorist attack. >> when vice president biden said in the debate wednesday night that we weren't told that they wanted more security there

in libya he directly contradicted the sworn testimony of the regional security director for the state department with the responsibility for libya. >> the camps of both candidates have expressed concern about recent statements from the moderator candy crowley. her role is supposed to be limited to quote managing the discussion, she is not supposed to rephrase questions or open new topics or follow-ups with new questions. but she recently said, quote, now, once the table is kind of set by the town hall questioner, then there is time for me to say, hey, wait a second, what about x, y, z? end quote. we'll see how far she carries that. it has created a lot of consternation in both campaigns. jon: we'll get into her role with our news watch panel coming up. thank you. jenna: the benghazi terror attack turning into really a hot topic of conversation on the

campaign trail. republicans suggest the white house is engaging in a cover up after the administration repeatedly claimed the deadly assault was the result of a spontaneous demonstration. yesterday, as you heard, just heard on fox news sunday, president obama's senior campaign adviser david axelrod accused the romney campaign of exploiting the issue for political gain. clifford may is president of the foundation for defense of democracy, he's an ideal guest for us because he served as communications director for the rnc at one time in your past career and you also were a foreign correspondent for a little paper called "the new york times." it's good to have you with that perspective for us today. talk to us direct lease, not just weigh in on the partisan parts of this story. you know, where does one draw the line? is there a line to be drawn in talking about the benghazi terror attacks that is appropriate considering that an ambassador died, regardless of whether or not we are in a

campaign -- campaign season? >> jenna i don't see how you can possibly avoid it. the two biggest issues have to be the economy and foreign policy and national security. and david axelrod is a very talented political operative. i understand he would like to change the topic from foreign policy from what is going on in the middle east from what happened specifically in libya to whether big birdie serves government subsidies or not. that is going to be hard to do if not impossible. if you look at "the new york times" or "washington post" or a lot of other newspapers, you'll see nothing about benghazi or libya on the front pages. that is probably true of some of your competitors as well. foreign policy is an important subject, i don't think romney addressed it enough early in this calm feign, now it's in the news he's got to address it and draw the distinctions between what a romney presidency would look like on foreign policy and national security and the policies that have been in place for the past four years judge i'd like to get into more specifics in a minute. "the new york times" has a big

editorial today that also weighs in on the benghazi issue. and one could argue that the newspaper is poe lit sizing it. it reads, the ugly truth is that the same people who are accusing the administration of not providing sufficient security for the american consulate in benghazi have voted to cut the state department budget, which includes financing for diplomatic security. so "the new york times" is saying the republicans are to blame because they cut money to embassies and consulates that could be used to offer better security. but just listen for a moment to what we heard from the hearing last week. let's go ahead and roll that sound. >> it has been suggested that budget cuts were responsible for a lack of security in benghazi, and i'd like to ask miss lamb, you made this decision personally, was there any budget consideration and lack of budget which led you not to increase the number of people in the security force there?

>> no, sir. >> that's all i need. thank you very much. jenna: we heard last week from the state department official it is not a factor. "the new york times" comes out today in its editorial and says, oh, yes it is. what do you make of that, cliff? >> what i make of that i'm afraid there is nothing i can make of it except for "the new york times" editorial page which is an opinion page is doing some campaigning here. there is simply no factual basis for the idea that there was insufficient security in libya on the anniversary of 9/11 because of budget cuts at the state department. that is erroneous. you can ask the question, and i think the news media ought to ask the question, why was there insufficient security? what didn't the obama administration perhaps understand about that anniversary and about the state of al-qaida? and the obama administration's position has been for quite some time that al-qaida is pretty much dead, and that the tide of war is receding. i would say the research we've been doing, and i think most people who are seriously covering what is going on in the world would say, neither of

those things are true, al-qaida is resurgent in many parts of the world. the tide of war is not receding. they don't recede, wars are either won or lost. jenna: one of the reasons why libya matters so much is that it shows us or gives us something to look at as to how our country is approaching the mideast and north africa in this post arab springer a that we're in right now. are either candidate -- have either candidate mapped out for us enough, articulated enough for us what their policy will be over the next four years if they take control of this country? >> i think we know -- would i say we know that obama's policies have been insufficient. drones have been used to kill a lot of terrorists but drones alone are not a strategy. governor romney has begun to outline the basic infrastructure of his policy but we don't know as much about it as we should. i think he has some sense that we are fighting a war against not just al-qaida and not just

its affiliates, and also by the way iran, which is a jihad diss state that igee jihaddist state that is trying to develop nuclear weapons, but at the end of the day we have to fight this ideology, what i would call and others would call the jihaddist eye deoideology, which is that every nation must submit to the jihaddists and those that see themselves as superior. i've got to say not all muslims believe in this by any means. the iranians do, al-qaida does and the muslim brotherhood does as well. this is the challenge we face and i think it's very important that president obama, if he remains president address it squarely, and governor romney needs to show that he understands this as well. i feel more cough confident there, but i think there is a lot more he could say about this. jenna: sounds for good material for another segment as well as we continue to watch the

evolving events in that part of the world. thank you so much for the time today. we appreciate it. >> thank you. jon: we will hear more from those two candidates at the debate tomorrow. president obama and governor romney, the ones running for president. but cnn candy crowley will be in the middle moderating their second debate and already there is controversy over how she plans to perform her duty. we'll get into that with our news watch panel. and why hundreds of skateboarders went wild in hollywood.

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interrupting him. now both groups are concerned about candy crowley saying she won't follow the rules. they say once the table is set by the town hall questioner there is time for me to say, hey, wait a second, what about x, y, z? both sides say that is counter to the commission rules that they agreed to. in managing the 2 minute comment periods the moderator will not rephrase the question or open a new topic. the moderator will not ask follow-up questions or comment on either the questions asked by the aupbd kwrepbs or the answer erbs of the candidates during the debate or otherwise intervene in the debate except to acknowledge the questioners from the audience or enforce the time limits and incite candidate comments during the two-minute response period. this audience is to be made up of 80 supposedly uncommitted voters chosen by the gallop organization. they will submit their questions in advance, and crowley will decide who gets called on.

jim pinkerton is a contributing editor and writer for the american conservative magazine. alan colmes is the host of the alan colmes radio show. they are our news watch panel today to take this issue on. jim, what could possibly go wrong? >> this looks pretty good from the obama administration's point of view, if you go to the media research center's website you can see that candy crowley appears to have sort of orthodox beltway liberal views on gun control and the gender gap and so on. i think things look pretty good for obama, just like they did for vice president biden last week with martha raddez. jon: alan? >> i'm laughing like biden. jon: you're interrupting like biden. >> didn't the profile show that candy crowley was likely a republican and worked for doyle or something? i don't see people complaining about that. to get inside her head and try and criticize her before the debate takes place h the agreement which you mentioned,

jon is between the two camps i'm not sure that candy crowley signed onto that agreement. so, you know, can we at least wait until it happens before we are critical of the moderator. jon: we are pointing out that mark halperin from time magazine is the one who put this out here. he says that both, both campaigns are concerned or upset about how she plans to do her job. >> they shouldn't be. >> to me this is a case where the bureaucrats who run the presidential campaign commission made an agreement and then they ask candy crowley if she wants to do it and she said sure, and she just doesn't -- as she's made clear she doesn't feel particularly bound by the agreement they made. it looks to me like the romney campaign might need to have a quick reconsideration here of what they are doing, because i smell trouble here. i tell you what i also smell trouble, to get ahead of the story here, those 80 undecided voters in new york state. if you're looking for undecided voters you don't go to new york state which president obama carried by 27 points in 2008 you

go to ohio or north carolina or nevada. that's where the undecided voters are. >> as a new york resident let me tell you upstate and down state are very, very different. there are all kind of undecided voters. on long island, they are mostly republican. let's put that to rest. >> i looked it up obama carried both nasa and suffolk county. >> new york state as a lot to it than just long island. >> it is a blue state. you don't go there looking for undecided voters. you go to undecided purple states not blue states. >> it's funny how the conservatives are trying to gain this debate before its even happened as if to try to set expectations and set the rules and say, here is what is going to happen, and already get people in people's heads, this notion that somehow it's not going to be favorable, and when you cite the media research center which always goes after liberals. they see media by as everywhere, they see it in the air, come

on. >> liberals tell the conservatives not to worry so they can spring the ambush on them. >> you tell me mitt romney or barack obama can't answer a follow-up question if if they are not capable of answering a question from candy crowley they shouldn't be president. >> the interruptions matter a lot more. and raddetz let biden stomp all over biden. >> and romney stomped all over jim lehrer. >> lehrer just sat there and let the two people talk. it was obama -- >> obama was himself with sleeping pills. jon: i love when you guys come on, i don't have to do anything. >> we'll carry the debate. jon: jim pinkerton and alan colmes. jenna: you were kind of like jim lehrer. jon: i wind them up and let them go. jenna: sometimes you get the best results. jon: we'll have our viewers

submit questions in advance. jenna: it seems all the focus is on the big battleground states like florida and ohio. both campaigns are pushing hard to win smaller swing states that together can really pack a big punch. a look inside that strategy just ahead. the kapt be tin of a doomed italian cruise ship back inside a program today. we'll tell you why. whether the captain will be convicted of manslaughter in the tragedy that killed 32 people. ♪ constipated? yeah. mm. some laxatives like dulcolax can cause cramps. but phillips' caplets don't. they have magnesium. for effective relief of occasional constipation. thanks. [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. phillips'.

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captain of the shipped wrecked costa condoria back in an italian court. they are hearing evidence against him as the court decides whether to move forward with a trial. more than a thousand survivors, victims' relatives and lawyers showing up just to look him in the eye. he slipped in through a back

door wearing dark glasses we are told, avoiding the press. he is charged with manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship while passengers and crew were still on board. 32 passengers were killed in that accident. the captain denies the charges. jenna: well just 22 days to go until the presidential election and we hear a lot about the battleground states with a lot of electoral votes like ohio or florida that we talked a little bit about today, and this super tight race with just a few electoral votes could also have a huge impact and maybe even decide the election. molly is live in boston with more for us now. >> reporter: you're exactly right. let's start with new hampshire and iowa, these are both states who have big players in presidential politics but usually after the primaries and the caucuses wrap-up the attention fades. that limelight goes away. not so fast this year. let's start with new hampshire. there are four electoral votes in new hampshire, a small number but the experts there say they could have a big impact on this

race. we had a chance to speak with andy smith a political -- a politics professor up at u.n. h. he says according to last tuesday's poll results obama's lead is slipping, just 6 percentage points ahead of romney who had been trailing by 15 in the previous week. this is a race that voters are watching very closely. >> i am voting for barack obama, and i'm voting for him because i feel that overall he best represents my feelings in terms of the economy, foreign relations, and e and and education. >> i'm voting for romney because we need a change. he's a successful businessman, he knows how to make businesses know so why can't he make the economy grow. >> iowa has 6 electoral votes to state, this once reliable red state has gone to the democratic nominee in five of the six elections including in 2008 when senator obama defeated senator

mccain by ten points. experts say it's all about which side can motivate voters to get to the polls. we had a chance to talk to voters from a farmer's field to a bi kweultding fair. >> i think romney knows what he's doing, i think he can do it and he will do it. >> i think obama is much more concerned about the middle and lower classes. >> reporter: this year the voters that started it all in new hampshire and iowa may have a very big say on how it all ends up, jenna. jenna: we'll continue to watch it. 22 days away. molly, thank you very much. an offer to get free publicity during tomorrow's presidential debate not going over too well. why a chain is rethinking its offer of free pizza for life after the promotion backfires. the latest in the pizza problem that is plaguing this debate. this weekend, jon taking the

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get your first full prescription free and save on refills at advaircopd.com. jenna: not so much about the economy it's really about pizza. a national pizza chain is dropping its offer of a free pizza every week for 30 years for anyone who asks the candidates at the presidential debate if they prefer sausage or pepperoni. pizza hut took a lot of heat for that, and a public outcry has convinced the chain not to move forward with that. we will not probably, probably not she that question asked tomorrow. the contest will be moving online, however. jon: let's hope we don't hear. jenna: what about you? what did you do this weekend. jon: i told you i was going to be appearing in a stage production short of a condensed version of man of la